Administering a performance test in Fiji Hindi

Abstract

Abstract As part of a research study on language maintenance and shift in the Indo-Fijian community in Wellington, New Zealand, a performance test was developed to assess the speaking and listening skills in Fiji Hindi of a sample of the Indo-Fijian teenagers. The design of the test needed to take account of the fact that Fiji Hindi is a preliterate vernacular language with no role in education and an ambivalent status within its own speech community. The test consisted of three main parts: a naturalistic conversation, two structured speaking tasks and a structured listening task. This paper focuses on some facets of the test administration, including the decision to administer it in the test-takers’ homes; the influence of various personal attributes of the interviewer; the ways of dealing with the lack of a script for Fiji Hindi; and the issue of live versus tape-based assessment of the test-takers’ performance. Both the test-takers and an independent rater provided feedback on the test that was generally very positive. The paper concludes with a discussion of various factors that may have influenced the reliability and validity of this somewhat unconventional language test.

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